Tefani and the Magnificent Flying Machine - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

There was a thump against the wooden hull of the machine, then a groan, and the brilliant gnomish inventor Professor Durbyskine bellowed, "Blast it, Tefani, will you cease that infernal crunching and smacking? It is very provoking to hear that while I am trying to concentrate!"

Tefani Brynall-Collingwood was a young lady from an old, prestigious upper-class family back on the mainland, now a student abroad who had the status of being the Professor's dedicated workshop assistant. She swallowed her current bite and then looked down at the gnawed turkey leg held in her slender fingers, and the corn chips in her nearby paper bag: it was today's lunch special at Jendra's Eatery, which she had ordered for take-out minutes earlier. "But it's my lunch break!" she protested, and then yawned. "Why aren't you eating lunch too?" The corn chips and fresh-roasted turkey tasted uncommonly good to her, and she was eating them with rather more gusto than politeness.

"I would have thought this bardic school of yours would have taught you how to eat like a proper lady," Professor Durbyskine muttered, even as the clanging of metal and the sound of motion indicated he was working again. "Are there no etiquette classes? How do you explain your poor table manners, your impertinent queries, your lack of tact, your intermittent flatulence, your salty language..."

"My parents taught me etiquette back home," Tefani said through a mouthful of corn chip crumbs, "but that was half a world away. Why should we bother with it here? This is a machine shop in the colonies, not a high society formal!" Bards, by their trade, were supposed to know a little bit about everything, so the Estendam College for Bards and Troubadours had arranged for her an apprenticeship with the eccentric inventor Professor Durbyskine, which meant working in his shop. It didn't seem terribly practical to her either, but she needed the credits. "I was sent here to broaden my horizons, not to play at refinement!"

"And I was promised a dedicated young intern with a charming demeanor and a strong work ethic," Professor Durbyskine said. The clear implication was that she lacked those traits.

Tefani laughed and unbuttoned her coveralls to the navel, showing the full extent of her cleavage and threatening to let her large, firm breasts fall out if she leaned forward or shifted aside too suddenly. "This isn't charming, Professor?" she purred seductively.

She knew it was against his better judgment when the little gnome professor peeked out from under the machine. "My word!" he exclaimed in astonishment, flinching and nearly bonking his head again. "Have you no shame, you tawdry strumpet?" But his eyes lingered on her exposed flesh.

Tefani knew what she looked like. She had a fine-featured, angelic face with full lips painted red, lightly tanned skin, and merry green eyes, and kept her blond hair pinned up in twintails to cultivate a playful, girlish appearance. This was offset by her shapely, womanly figure, which even greasy, battered coveralls couldn't conceal: they were snug enough about the midsection that they offered a fair amount of support to her breasts, and lined with soft fabric so that it was not uncomfortable on hot days to wear nothing underneath save a pair of thong underwear, as she did today. With her looks, her sultry singing voice, and her amazing talent for dance and instruments including stringed, wind, and percussion, she was a very successful performer and could have been filling seats in taverns and theaters across the empire, if she wasn't apprenticed here at this eccentric's machine shop for reasons of bardic tradition and bureaucracy.

Professor Umbericus Durbyskine scurried out from under the machine, and his overalls were snug enough that Tefani observed with some amusement that he had an erection jutting out just below his round pot belly. Tefani thought him a uniquely cute but ridiculous looking fellow, one hundred and ten centimeters tall with a long curling waxed mustache and a neat little beard growing in a perfect truncated cone from his jutting chin, set on a tanned, weathered face with classical features of absurdly heroic stature, so that he looked like a caricature of a handsome man. His facial hair was a dark shade of faded salmon pink, as was the wild mane of hair that grew from his head and naturally parted into two peaks, one to either side. As a gnome, his hair color was not unusual, but he still looked funny to her: a portly little man with a big bushy head of pink hair, scrambling and capering about in stained, threadbare overalls.

"Well, no matter," Professor Durbyskine said, and a grin spread over his face. "Button up; indeed, put away those magnificent orbs of womanflesh with which you seek to drive me to a state of inarticulate discomposure! For now I have want of you. No, more proper to say that I need you, Tefani. I need you at this very moment!"

Tefani's flattered giggles at hearing him describe her breasts as 'magnificent orbs of womanflesh' were abruptly caught in a gasp when he said, quite plainly that he wanted and needed her, his erection forming a surprisingly prominent tent in his coveralls. She raised an eyebrow sharply, flattered but otherwise unsure how she felt about this highly indecorous advance. "Why, Professor!" she said in only partly feigned shock and indignation. "This is highly inappropriate!" She smiled and fluttered her eyelashes, unable to resist making this part of the game, hoping to catch him in a breach of decorum or moment of weakness. "But don't you want me to take off my coveralls, if that's what you want?"

Professor Durbyskine's face went red. "Miss Brynall-Collingwood!" he sputtered. "The very suggestion! What makes you think that I would avail myself of your transparent attempts at seduction, though your features and form are most attractive, when I could just as well go down the street to an upper-class brothel and, at the cost of a few coins, slake my lusts without compromising my status as a trusted educator and a gentleman of integrity?"

Tefani smirked. "No upper-class whore did that to you," she said, pointing to his erection. "Admit it: you want my butt. Badly."

Professor Durbyskine sighed. "Yes, well, as I mentioned you are a young woman of uncommonly pleasing beauty," he said, sending a little thrill through her at that acknowledgment, "and therefore I, a man of healthy appetites, must sustain the indignity of the physical reaction that comes as ordinary at the vivid display and suggestion that such pleasures are imminently available to him. None of this is outside the realm of expectation, and it demeans us to spend time tittering about it as if we were schoolchildren observing this phenomenon personally for the first time!"

Tefani rolled her eyes and started buttoning up her coveralls again. "All right, be no fun then," she said, and stuck her tongue out at him. "You're so fussy! Can't you ever just be jolly and happy?"

Professor Durbyskine's grin returned. "By all means," he said excitedly. "Indeed, before that little tangent, I was giddy with joy! You see, Miss Brynall-Collingwood, I have just completed the final inspection of my magnificent flying machine, and with the minor adjustments I have made, it is ready for its maiden launch!"

"Oh," Tefani said with a shrug, and took another bite from her turkey leg, chewing noisily. "Good for you, I guess." She was privately glad that she had buttoned up again when a shred of meat fell from her lips and landed right where it would have fallen down through her exposed cleavage.

"And, as I mentioned, Miss Brynall-Collingwood, I have need of you," Professor Durbyskine continued. "You are to provide power to supplement the clockwork batteries and vastly prolong the duration of its flight. The mechanism is no different from that of the leg-powered winding machine you so eagerly use in your free time."

The leg-powered winding machine which the professor spoke of had a seat and pedals, and provided terrific exercise while it was being used to recharge clockwork devices. It was largely through eager use of it that Tefani had toned up her thighs and butt and lost the extra two kilograms or so she had gained her freshman year. "But doesn't that mean I'll have to be on it?" Tefani asked. She looked at the flying machine, and indeed there was a set of pedals hanging below one of the seats, set in a tube with large, flappy wings and rotors, currently folded down, mounted at the top and the front. It was an unlikely-looking contraption to say the least, and the turn of this conversation was giving her a bad feeling.

"Indeed," Professor Durbyskine said. "You will be my co-pilot for this voyage! You will have the exclusive pleasure of flying through the air via the use of physics and engineering, without the benefit of magic!"

A flash of severe apprehension fluttered through Tefani's body. "I... I really don't know, Professor," she mumbled, standing up. "I hardly think that I'm the best candidate for such an important job..."

"Nonetheless, you agreed to be my assistant, per the terms laid forth by your bardic college, as I agreed to take you on," Professor Durbyskine said. He went to the crank that opened the bay door of his workshop and started turning it eagerly. "And now I have need of your assistance. As they say, Miss Brynall-Collingwood, a deal's a deal."

Tefani now started to apprehend the significance of the workshop's location outside of the port city of Estendam. Stretching out ahead of the bay door for some one hundred meters was a paved road, ending in a very slight ramp just thirteen meters or so ahead of a cliff face overlooking the sea to the east. Outside, the early afternoon sky was overcast with dark gray clouds, and a strong wind swept in even through the bay door and scattered the numerous papers on the Professor's desk.

"Isn't it a bit too windy to be flying?" Tefani asked. "We should wait a few weeks, until there's a nice long stretch of calm weather."

"Nonsense!" Professor Durbyskine said. "The wings of this machine are set up to catch the wind from any angle, given the skilled manipulation of the controls. Such winds can only aid us in going higher and faster than might otherwise be possible!"

Tefani's shoulders slumped. She considered, in her mind, whether it would be a worse fate to die terribly by falling out of the sky, or to go back home and admit to her parents that after she had begged them tirelessly for two years to send her this exotic and expensive bardic college in the colonies, she had dropped out for lack of willingness to complete an apprenticeship, thereby wasting over a year of her life and a vast sum of money. At length she decided that death was the more favorable of these options. "So, you want me to get in the seat with the pedals?" she asked.

"Indeed, that is the power seat," Professor Durbyskine said. "Put on your helmet and goggles as well, and strap in. I shall set the machine off and then join you in the controller's seat."

Tefani took a deep breath and climbed into the machine, then squashed her twintails under the ugly leather helmet provided, and lowered its big, round goggles over her eyes. Already feeling uneasy, she finally strapped herself in with the thick belt that was affixed to the seat. At least her seat was upholstered with fine leather and very comfortable. The machine itself was very well-built; it had been complete in a way when she arrived, so that her work had only been five weeks of testing and re-testing connections, checking angles and measurements, and otherwise verifying and tweaking the machine. The level of care and attention to detail invested by the Professor could not be denied.

Behind her, Tefani heard some clicking noises, followed by a crackling hiss, and then the Professor rushed forward and clambered into his seat, chortling with glee. "It's done! It's done!" he cried. "Our flight begins in mere seconds! Prepare yourself, dear Tefani, to greet the clouds and look down on this world from heights that dragons do not dare!"

Then there was a loud, flaming roar from behind them, and Tefani was thrown back in her seat sharply. The wind pressed harshly into her face, peeling back her lips as if it wanted to tear her skin off by them, and the cliff face passed by in a blur until they were shooting through the air over the ocean as if fired from a crossbow. She felt utterly squashed, unable to pedal even if she wanted to, and the absurd thought trickled through her head that she was glad she had visited the privy less than fifteen minutes ago.

But then, after only a handful of excruciating minutes, the roar behind them ceased, and the oppressive wind began to lessen. Its all-present rush in Tefani's ears had faded, and she heard Professor Durbyskine in front of her yell, "Soon I will engage the rotors! At my command, begin working the pedals, and do not cease!" He laughed. "But for now, marvel at our circumstances!m: we are flying!

Tefani's terror and discomfort had faded somewhat, and looking out over the side of the flying craft, she was astonished to see that they were gliding over the sea, the fishing boats of Estendam looking like rats below. Slowly, Professor Durbyskine made the craft turn a full circle, and to her amazement the whole city was far in the distance already, a flat gray patch on the horizon, its tallest buildings rising up like pebbles in a field. They were high in the air and miles out to sea after only a few minutes!

From above came a clicking noise, and then a gentle clockwork whirring. "The rotors are engaged!" Professor Durbyskine shouted. "Commence pedaling, and do not stop!"

Tefani started pedaling, her heart racing with excitement and euphoria. Finally she understood why the bardic college had sent her to work for the Professor! Other bards had gone to work for historians, laborers, hunters, or botanists, and returned with increased knowledge of the world and an eye for metaphor in their field. But Tefani, from this day forth, would be able to draw inspiration forevermore from this glorious occasion; she, an ordinary woman, now flew in the skies without the aid of any of the magical sorcery usually necessary to achieve such a feat! The flying machine adopted a forward pitch, enabling the large main rotor to provide propulsion as well as lift, and they flew higher and higher, as below them, islands passed by, little specks of tan and green where creatures and perhaps even people lived, imperceptibly small to those who flew through the heavens.

"This," shouted Professor Durbyskine, "is a success beyond parallel! We have flown among the birds with but the power of ingenuity and physics, and proven that the minds of people with inspiration are still truly the most powerful magical artifacts of all!" He looked back at Tefani. "Shall we now circle back to the workshop to record our successes?"

Tefani grinned. "Let's stay out just a little bit longer!" she exclaimed. "This is incredible, Professor!"

"Very well," Professor Durbyskine chortled, "if your long and powerful legs can endure so long. A few minutes more! Let us see what lies now to the south!" He manipulated some levers, and the flying machine began a gentle turn. The sun, now slightly to the west, was obscured by thick clouds and in no danger of blinding them.

The exercise of pushing the pedals was a vigorous workout, but Tefani's heart was alive with the wonders that she saw: islands and sea passing below them, great sailing ships now little more than ants. She could scarcely imagine returning to the mundane ground below. Less than an hour ago, she was hoping the day would pass quickly so she could meet her friends at a colahouse in town; now even that awaited treat seemed so banal and mundane. She wanted to fly forever!

A flash and a rumble ahead stole her attention, and Tefani looked up to see the clouds were a bit darker back towards the city of Estendam, and flashed with lightning. The city sat on a peninsula and was often struck by storms out of the southwest. This one looked to be sweeping in to catch them from the side. "Professor!" she cried out. "Look at the sky!"

"I see it!" Professor Durbyskine called back. "Do not worry! This machine is built to thrive on the wind! And yet, a direct approach into a headlong intersection with the path of the storm might prove difficult. I will circle us around that we might approach again from the southwest, in the wake of the storm. I do hope your legs are not expected to tire soon!"

"Not at all!" Tefani called back, and continued to pedal.

True to the Professor's claims, the machine seemed to pick up speed as the wind rose, heedless of its direction, and it moved in a broad, sweeping arc, far out to sea. Below, they passed by the countless tiny islands that made up the Kureleyan Archipelago at an improbable rate of speed, buoyed by the wind as the machine's rudders and flaps caught and redirected it, and the clockwork battery and Tefani's own legs drove them on. Still the wonder of flight captivated her, and time passed by like a breeze, and as the sky darkened further she could not say if it was the approach of dark clouds or the sun lowering into afternoon. It was, however, a bit disconcerting that the cliffs of Estendam were nowhere to be seen.

Then the wind roared, lightning pealed through the air, the machine pitched wildly. Tefani screamed, once again glad that she had used the privy recently.

"My word!" Professor Durbyskine exclaimed, and she could barely hear him over the rush of the wind. "By my reckoning, the winds exceed the expected conditions for operation of this machine! I fear the threat of rudder failure is imminent!"

"P-P-Professor?" Tefani's voice was shaking, her heart quivering in her chest. "I don't wanna die, Professor. Tell me that's not as bad as it sounds!"

"You'll be pleased to know," Professor Durbyskine shouted, with the boundless optimism of men who place their trust in science, "that I do not believe that this incoming storm meets the definition of a hurricane as accepted among the scientific community! And even if my reckoning is off, it is a very minor hurricane at best, and we are skirting the barest edge of it!"

Tefani was not terribly reassured by that pronouncement. "Terrific!" she exclaimed, but her lack of sincerity was largely lost to the wind.

"Nevertheless, it may be advisable to attempt a landing at one of these approaching islands," Professor Durbyskine hollered, "where we may seek shelter, to later rewind the batteries and procure saltpeter and charcoal to replenish the launching-rocket!" He paused, then raised his voice to yell, "But whatever you do, keep pedaling!"

Tefani's legs pumped tirelessly as the Professor pulled at the controls, and the flying machine pitched forward, its nose pointed towards the ground moreso than usual. She soon started to perceive that they were targeting one large island in the distance, covered in a thick jungle canopy with high hills of rich gray, black, and green rising towards the center, and a ring of beach around it. It was in the distance, far in the distance, but they made good speed with the rumble of the wind behind them.

It seemed like no time as the island drew on, and the sea drew nearer and nearer, until they were low, a few scant meters over the water, and careening rapidly towards the beach. "Now then, Tefani, slow your pedaling!" the Professor cried, and he brought them down further. The craft slowed, but not all that much, and the water rose higher and higher as Tefani's pulse quickened in panic. Then with a sharp shock, the bottom of the craft skidded on the water once, twice, three times, and the third time peeled away the bottom of the hull, and a rush of seawater flew in and jerked Tefani's legs around painfully and tossed her back hard against the seat of the machine, making her vision spin despite the protection afforded by her leather helmet.

But the Professor's aim was true, and the water rapidly stopped the craft's forward motion, and Tefani groggily perceived that they were drifting up to the white sands of the beach at a quick but not dangerous pace. And there were... figures watching them? And a campfire? The nose of the craft hit the sand and beached itself a meter or two on the beach, then came to a stop, lolling to one side.

Tefani unbuckled herself from the machine and clambered out, her head light and spinning, her heart like a globe of shaken jelly. She could hardly believe she was alive! She felt the wet sand beneath her feet and clambered up to the beach, only to pitch forward onto her hands and knees when the white sand shifted below her unsteady legs. When she started to look up, she saw several sets of big, dark moss-green feet with long, gnarly toenails standing in front of her. They all belonged to orcs in tribal dress, wearing skirts made of grasses, hides, and plant fibers, standing around looking at them with expressions of awe.

"Remarkable!" Professor Durbyskine, ever redoubtable, had bounded out beside her. "We have stumbled upon one of the inhabited islands to the southern reaches of the archipelago! The natives here, if enlisted and properly overseen, could provide valuable labor in the repair of our craft! Miss Brynall-Collingwood, you speak the common language of the orcish people, do you not? Will you initiate parley with them?"

Surrounded by natives of uncertain disposition, with her heart exploding inside her chest in the wake of a terrifying descent from the sky, Tefani bolted to her feet and concocted an alternate plan, one sure to meet with great success: she groaned feebly as her vision went green, then keeled over and fainted from shock.

Continued in Chapter 2

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